Donna Spencer

All evidence to the contrary, Emilie Heymans claims she's lazy.

The 22-year-old from St-Lambert, Que., is competing in all four women's diving events at the Olympic Games in Athens - the 10-metre platform, where she is a contender to win a medal, the three-metre springboard and in synchronized diving in both disciplines with partner Blythe Hartley.

That will keep Heymans going seven of the 11 days of Olympic diving competition.

''It's a lot, but at the same time, there's a lot of time between each event,'' Heymans said. ''It's not like one day after the other. You have a lot of time to rest between each event.''

Outside the pool, Heymans says she can be laid-back to the point of sloth.

''I think I'm a pretty lazy person. I'm never going to walk up the stairs,'' she said. ''Sometimes at home if I don't have the TV remote and I don't like the shows on TV, I'm just going to leave it there because I don't want to get up.''

But she says the draw of competition is what makes her want to dive the full menu in Athens. She'd rather be diving than watching.

''Especially when you're one of the last events, it's so long to be there and see everybody compete and you just want to be them,'' Heymans said.

She is the defending world champion on the women's 10-metre tower, which makes her a strong medal possibility.

''She can compete with the best of them if she's on and really hungry,'' Canadian team coach Mitch Geller said.

Heymans won a silver medal with Anne Montminy in the synchronized 10-metre event in Sydney four years ago when synchro was first introduced to the Games.

Montminy won the bronze in the individual tower while Heymans finished fifth.

While Montminy required herself to be in such a high state of nervousness she was practically sick in order to compete at her optimum level, Heymans is not like that.

''I think I'm a pretty relaxed person and not making big deals out of stuff,'' she said. ''Maybe sometimes I am a little bit too 'oh, whatever.' When I'm into it, I'm maybe hard on myself.''

Her CAMO club coach Michel Larouche says Heymans performs better when she cracks the whip on herself.

''When she's in a good state of mind, she's hard on herself,'' Larouche said. ''When she's not in a good state of mind, she's not really hard on herself.''

Geller was of two minds on Heymans' full slate in Athens. While he doesn't want her to get fatigued ''getting into a competitive routine is not the end of the world either,'' he said.

Unlike Montminy, Heymans is not a scoreboard-watcher. She believes knowing where she's ranked during the competition would only distract her.

''I don't look. Never,'' Heymans said. ''If you're a little behind, you have nothing to lose. But if you're ahead, it's at that point you have everything to lose. Maybe you try to control yourself too much. This is when you're missing because you're not going full power.''

And as far as winning a medal in Athens, Heymans doesn't like to dwell too much on it.

''I don't think thinking about results is going to help you,'' she said. ''You have to think about what you have do to be the best during the week.''

Her main rivals on the tower will be the Chinese, Li Ting and Lao Lishi. Australians Loudy Tourky and Chantelle Michell and Paola Espinosa of Mexico should also be in the mix.

After winning the world title in Barcelona last year as well as three gold medals at the Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, Heymans had a slow start to this year because she required surgery for a skin infection in January.

She placed fifth at the opening World Cup in Athens the following month, but then won in Madrid and placed second Victoria and in The Woodlands, Texas, to be ranked first overall on the FINA Grand Prix circuit.

Heymans was born in Brussels and a year later her family moved to the Montreal area. Her family lived near a municipal swimming pool and Heymans spent much of her time there.

She dabbled in diving, but it wasn't immediately a success.

''I just whacked myself on the water on the first practice,'' she said. ''That wasn't such a good experience.''

Her first love from age five to 11 was gymnastics, but when it became apparent she was going to be too tall for gymnastics she switched back to diving. Her talent quickly became apparent as she won a world junior title in 1997 at the age of 15.

She lives with her sister Severine. Her father Eric works for TD Canada Trust and mother Marie-Paule works in the family real estate business.

Like her Canadian teammate, Alexandre Despatie, Heymans is on a cereal box through her sponsorship with General Mills. Johnson and Johnson also sponsors her. She is also part of a Quebec program in which athletes are adopted and given funding by corporations, CEOs and professional athletes.

Former cable television head Claude Chagnon is Heymans' patron.

Heymans attended junior college for two years after Sydney and although she has put school on hold for now, she really wants to go back and then eventually get involved in the fashion industry.

She likes to shop for clothes, but that has lost its lustre for now as she is wearing the same thing every day.

''Even if I buy any clothes, I'm never going to wear them,'' she said. ''The only thing I do is go to the pool and wear a suit and go back home.''

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